Reviewing: The Farmer's Market Mishap

Meet identical twins Thelma and Elma!  I was introduced to them when I read The Lopsided Christmas Cake by Wanda E Brunstetter and Jean Brunstetter. When a buggy accident claimed the lives of their grandparents, the twins inherited a home and store in Topeka Illinois. Moving from Sullivan  to Topeka was not easy and they found their new home was not as ship shape as they remembered from childhood visits.  Hard work and faith carries the girls through each challenge.  The Lopsided Christmas Cake  is a lively story of their coming of age.

The Farmer's Market Mishap centers on Elma and Ben Wagler who it would seem couldn't possibly get together.  Imagine being of marrying age and just not finding the right mate yet matchmakers seem determined to pair you up with unsuitable matches. Elma feels destined to be an old spinster running her store alone after the recent marriage of Thelma to Joseph.  Even though their home is across the street she misses the close companionship she felt with her twin.

Ben has been living with his mother on the family farm since his father passed.  A farrier by trade, his life seems to be too busy to court the young woman his mother has "chosen" for him. He's met every other eligible young lady in his community and feels destined to carry out his life without a wife.

A chance meeting at the farmer's market in Shipshewana sends sparks to both Ben and Elma.  The spark kindled by this encounter leaves a lasting impression on both their hearts but she lives in Topeka and he lives in Grabill.  50 miles is a bit far apart to begin a courtship for this Amish couple!  What of Ben's mother, Dorothy, who couldn't live alone, or the store, or Thelma's new baby?  How can these two get together when distance and family obligations threaten to keep them apart?


This story is light-hearted and heartwarming.  I recommend The Farmer's Market Mishap for anyone who enjoys Wanda Brunstetter's legacy of Amish fiction.